This invention relates to router supporting and positioning apparatus and more particularly to wall mounted apparatus for supporting a router and a work support platform, the router being supported above the work support platform.
A router is a high speed woodworking tool designed to be hand held for cutting various shapes on the edges of a work piece or for cutting grooves of various cross sectional shapes, e.g., dove tails, etc., through a work piece. The router includes a motor having a vertically oriented shaft on the end of which is mounted a collet and chuck for securing the shank of a cutting tool or bit. The motor is adjustably mounted within a housing having a base and means such as a rack and pinion or helix groove, etc. are provided for moving the motor together with the cutting bit vertically relatively to the base which is designed generally to be disposed on the upper surface of the work piece. Normally, except in the case of plunge routers, the base is positioned on the surface of the work and the cutting bit is adjusted to just touch the work surface to provide a zero setting. The desired depth of cut is then set by adjusting the cutting bit beyond the base relative to the zero setting, a gauge being built into the adjusting means. The motor is then secured by clamping means to the housing and the router may be used to make the required cut. The router motor rotates at exceptionally high speeds, in the order of approximately 20,000 to 25,000 rpm no load speed being typical, and thus provides a smooth cut in the work piece.
One of the difficulties in using a router is that because of the high speed and high torque created thereby the router must be firmly held by the user to prevent it from running away relative to the work piece and from the creation of potentially dangerous situations. Thus, the work must be clamped firmly and unless a bench dog or the like is utilized which grips the work below the surface, the clamps may interfere with the router base and prevent a cut being made in a single pass and requiring reclamping of the work to continue the cut. A solution to this difficulty has been provided by the utilization of router tables wherein the router base is mounted below the surface of the table with the tool bit extending through an aperture in the table, and the work is moved by hand relative to the router. One problem with this arrangement is that it is difficult to adjust the depth of cut, especially when a deep cut is to be made in two or more passes. The router being mounted in inverted fashion relative to its normal disposition provides a situation wherein when the motor is unclamped from the housing to adjust the depth of cut, gravity and the weight of the motor portion of the router acts to decrease the extension of the tool bit relative to the top of the table before the increase in extension can be made. Moreover, it is difficult to read the gauge on the router because of the location of the router beneath the table. Therefore, it generally requires a number of adjustments and trial and error cuts before the correct depth of cut is obtained.
Because of the aforesaid difficulties woodworkers have constantly attempted to devise fixtures and the like for utilizing the router in its normal disposition with the tool bit extending downwardly but mounted so that the work can be moved by hand relative to the router. For example, in Snow U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,391 and North U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,342 proposals are made for mounting a router on a radial arm saw by fixtures attached to the radial arm saw motor housing, and in Vander Maas U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,327 and Downing U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,644 proposals are made for mounting a router on a drill press utilizing the drill press spindle or shaft as a support member to which the router is secured by fixtures. Although such proposals may have some merit not every amateur woodworker has a radial arm saw or a drill press since these stand-alone units require a substantial amount of space and a number of combination units are marketed which combine various features of stand alone units. Additionally, those woodworkers who do have radial arm saws or drill presses may not desire to have them out of commission from their normal use by mounting a router thereon, and if the router were mounted and dismounted whenever the router is needed, the assembly and disassembly time may be substantially more than desired.